Archaia

Spider-Woman, Princess Leia, Halogen, and more!

Susana has tragically departed TMS, and we miss her constantly - but no more so than Tuesdays, when there is a Pull It Together-sized hole in our hearts and on our website. While I don't hope to live up to her awesome standards in comic taste, I'm going to be starting a new series here at TMS called Pull Wisely, where we give you short snippets of our comic recommendations for the week - and then ask for yours in the comments.

The original nerd gift.

It's December 1st... do you know where your holiday shopping list is? No? Well, we're going to be helping you out there all week, starting with the nerdiest gift of all: books. Here are some mighty tomes that have come out this year that we think your loved ones would be lucky to get.

Dance your Con cares away!

As a Henson nerd, one of the highlights of New York City Comic Con for me was attending the "Jim Henson Company: Upcoming Comics With Archaia" panel. Unfortunately, it also gave me some pretty unrealistic career goals. How exactly does one become a Henson historian? Just asking for a friend.

Related Story: Everyone at The Mary Sue wants Mouse Guard Board Game

David Petersen and Luke Crane have turned to crowdfunding platform Kickstarter today to bring a Mouse Guard game into reality. Their goal is $18,000, and they're nearly halfway there already. It's safe to say they'll hit the goal, but you have until August 7th to back it and claim your rewards.

“A world without monsters is a dangerous place”
In a world where monsters are very real, City in the Desert opens on a hunter, Irro, and his assistant, Hari, a girl with, as Irro put it, “some of the best attributes of a monkey”—clever, quick, agile, and, uh, a prehensile tail. The father-like Irro appears to be on some sort of solo monster safari—packing unique, homemade weapons, he seems more concerned with taking down the beasts than with studying them. Riding a part-robot part-beast yak-like creature with a monkey-girl at his side, the story seems at first almost like Curious George meets Victorian-era wild game hunters. Had that been the case I would have been perfectly satisfied to read a delightful child-like exploration of this desert world full of strange and mythical beasts and strange, wonderful treasures.
What I got was vastly better and more sophisticated.
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Things We Saw Today

Angelina Jolie and Stella McCartney have a created Maleficent-inspired fashion line. Women's Wear Daily writes, "The collection of eight styles includes princess dresses and sandals, as well as edgy T-shirts and sneakers, for boys and girls ages four to 14." Ok, but what size does it go up to because I have a mighty need. (via Jezebel)
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Review

An Aurora Grimeon Story: Will o’ the Wisp is a brand-new Archaia title coming in November, by newcomers Tom Hammock and Megan Hutchison. Clocking in at over 200 pages, this graphic novel is a doozy for a couple of first-timers, and fortunately it does not disappoint. An all-ages comic set in the Louisiana swamps, it manages to mix mystery and voodoo tradition in a haunting atmosphere, culminating in a tense showdown between malevolent forces from the spirit world and our determined young protagonist, Aurora Grimeon, as well as a cadre of friends and family to help seal the deal.
I admit, I’m always a little leery when something mentions references to voodoo traditions in the south, largely because too often it turns into a racist caricature rather than actual representation. I know that I, myself, would never touch that as a topic because I’m about as far from southern Louisiana as you can get as far as background goes, and no matter how much research I put into it I’d always be an outsider looking in, indulging in voyeurism instead of respect, and I’ve made it a personal mission to try really hard not to be that guy. So it was with some reticence and hesitation that I approached this graphic novel, and I was happy to be largely relieved to see its characters treated like human beings and not cartoon characters.

I'll Allow It

Well, this caught my eye: Aline Brosh McKenna, the screenwriter behind The Devil Wears Prada, and the upcoming Quvenzhané Wallis-starring Annie remake, has been hired to write the movie adaptation of a yet-unreleased Jane Eyre graphic novel.
Let Bertha out of the attic, we're going to the movies.
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Insidery

If you're familiar with Boom! and Archaia as comics publishers, it could be for any of more than two dozen licensed lines of comics based on television, animation, movies and kids fare, as well as any of the original creator owned books the two comics publishers put out. Boom! especially, has acquired the comic making rights to a lot of our favorite stuff, like Adventure Time, The Muppet Show, and The Regular Show, and done very good work with them. Any fans of genderswap Adventure Time characters Fionna and Cake really owe it to themselves to check out their comic book miniseries, for example. Today, Boom! announced that they'll be expanding with the acquisition of Archaia Studios, the publisher behind Mouse Guard and the comic adaptations of Jim Henson Productions IP like Fraggle Rock and The Dark Crystal.
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